At Wimbledon last year, a male tennis player with three convictions for assaulting other men and a civil case against him for rape (in which his female victim was paid £100,000 compensation) played in the tournament.
Known to all as ‘the Rapist Tennis Player’, his sins are no secret but nobody cares because he is entertaining. The crowds all cheered when he won matches.
Asked to comment, a spokesman for the All England Club said: ‘What’s the problem? He is a terrific player. We don’t see an issue here.’
Hold it right there. You are correct. There is no Rapist Tennis Player and none of the above happened. And it is hard to imagine it could in the world of professional tennis, or indeed in cricket, rugby or athletics.
Would a man with assault and rape charges against him really just carry on with his career, without even a whisper of official dissent? No. It could only happen in the toxic world of football.
In Scotland, there has been uproar at Raith Rovers FC because the Kirkcaldy-based team signed a striker called — in a blow to nominative determinism — David Goodwillie.
In Scotland, Raith Rovers FC signed David Goodwillie who was was accused of raping a woman in 2011
In 2011 the 32-year-old striker, known as the Rapist Footballer, was accused of raping a woman and although there was insufficient evidence for a criminal trial, she was awarded a five-figure sum by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority.
Later she won damages in the civil case she brought against him, after turning down a six-figure sum from his lawyers to settle out of court.
This did not deter Raith from signing him as ‘he is a proven goalscorer’, a spokesperson said.
Silly me. Imagine thinking there might be a moral dimension here.
The same attitude was prevalent when Goodwillie signed for Clyde FC in 2017.
‘David is the first guy to admit he made mistakes that night,’ sighed a club spokesman, despite the player never publicly expressing regret or remorse.
Following allegations this week of sexual assault, Manchester United have dropped striker Mason Greenwood until further notice, while Nike has suspended its relationship with him
And his criminal record for assault didn’t deter other clubs that had signed him in the past, including Crystal Palace, Aberdeen and Blackburn Rovers.
Can you imagine that happening in any other sport? Me neither.
His case echoes those of others who have committed crimes and been allowed back into the game.
Craig Thomson at Hearts was allowed to stay on after being found guilty on two counts of indecent behaviour towards underage girls over the internet because the club said there were ‘sufficient mitigating circumstances’.
Crime Scene Investigators arrive at Mason Greenwood’s mansion in Bowden, Manchester on Sunday evening
One wonders what on earth those circumstances were — perhaps ‘we need him for the first team’ featured prominently.
It was only when the mothers of the victims complained, then the club’s sponsors threatened to withdraw, that the club finally booted Thomson out.
Much the same thing happened at Raith this week, when it took furious women to show the club the error of their entrenched ways. Raith Rovers women’s captain Tyler Rattray resigned in protest, while bestselling crime novelist and team sponsor Val McDermid withdrew her support.
The club now say they are not going to field Goodwillie and have expressed regret at their actions. But it seems too little, too late.
Football is supposed to be ‘the beautiful game’ but to the casual observer like me, it seems full of ugliness today; of endemic cheating from kick-off to final whistle.
Players exaggerate their injuries, rolling on the pitch as if they were gasping their last to gain tactical advantage. They pinch as many yards as they can when taking a throw-in, they aggressively besiege the referee if a decision goes against their team.
It is not gamesmanship, it is just dishonest. The object is to cheat and get away with it.
Craig Thomson at Hearts was allowed to stay on after being found guilty on two counts of indecent behaviour towards underage girls over the internet because the club said there were ‘sufficient mitigating circumstances’
And if there is no honour on the pitch, perhaps we should not expect too much honour off it. There is certainly never a shortage of scandal.
Following allegations this week of sexual assault, Manchester United have dropped striker Mason Greenwood until further notice, while Nike has suspended its relationship with him. If he is charged and found guilty, what awaits him? Is his football career over?
Not if some clubs have their way, especially the more desperate ones, farther down the food chain. Supporters of criminal footballers argue that the men have been punished for their crimes, have a right to make a living and deserve redemption, like anyone else.
Yes, people make mistakes. But for professional footballers, surely different rules apply. It’s just too much to accept a man like Goodwillie being lionised by impressionable young fans; that they might be cheering on a rapist or criminal sends out a terrible message.
With great privilege comes great responsibility, whether at Raith Rovers, Manchester United or any other club.
Some things are so wrong, they can never be made right. And sometimes it takes a woman to point that out.
A driver who heroically rammed his car into a knife killer in Maida Vale, London, states movingly: ‘I hope . . . a message has been sent to society: should you see an evil, it is a duty upon you to stop it with your hands. If you cannot, then you should stop it by speaking out; if you cannot, at the very least you should hate it with your heart.’
Gwyneth’s house makes Harry’s look like a shack
Yes, yes. Envy is a corrosive emotion and most undignified, too — that is why right now I am trying not to rust up with pure grudge at Gwyneth Paltrow’s new custom-built, high-spec country home in Montecito, California. It’s so luxurious, decadent and fabulous it makes the nearby Chez Sussex look like a shack.
Gwyneth Paltrow’s new custom-built, high-spec country home in Montecito, California is so luxurious, decadent and fabulous it makes the nearby Chez Sussex look like a shack
Showing off in Architectural Digest, Gwyneth revealed her entryway fireplace (‘you see a lot of these in Europe’); her marble bar (‘unfortunately, I am not drinking very much this year’); and best of all, her huge in-home spa, complete with plunge pools, sauna and steam room, because she wanted ‘something amazing you can use when you are much older’.
We mere mortals can hope for a handrail in the shower and maybe some maximum-strength moisturiser from Tesco. But I love Gwyneth so much that I don’t even mind. Almost.
- If you are a devoted green person, if you have spent the past ten years frothing about the evils of nuclear power, warning against the extraction of shale gas and campaigning for the closure of fossil fuel power stations, then please do not now start complaining about the evil Tory Government and its energy price hike. For this, I blame all the privately educated, super-privileged, rosy-eyed, liberal eco-bulb dimwit idealists; the Carries and the Zacs who want a greener world but haven’t thought about who is going to pay for it all. And I look forward to them wokesplaining to the serfs why their energy bills have gone through the roof.
It’s not what you say…
In public life today, it is not what you say that is important, it is who says it. Whoopi Goldberg ventured the provocative opinion that the Holocaust wasn’t about race, but managed to keep her job on ABC News show The View.
The cynic in me thinks this is because Whoopi is part of America’s liberal elite and is also black, so she appears in this case to have had a free pass to spout any old rubbish, no matter how offensive.
Whoopi Goldberg ventured the provocative opinion that the Holocaust wasn’t about race, but managed to keep her job on ABC News show The View
According to her, the Holocaust was simply ‘man’s inhumanity to man’. If a prominent Jewish person offered the view that the years of Jim Crow segregation and the slave trade were not about race, they would never be allowed into a studio again.
Whoopi has been suspended for two weeks, which in TV terms represents about five minutes on the naughty step. Compare her fate with that of Sharon Osbourne, who had to leave CBS show The Talk after merely defending her friend Piers Morgan, who was accused of racism for expressing the opinion that the Duchess of Sussex had lied. ‘This did not align with our values for a respectful workplace,’ huffed CBS. What a joke.
Posh will live to 105 – thanks to steamed veg
David Beckham has revealed that wife Victoria has eaten the same meal for 25 years — grilled fish and steamed veg. Respect to Posh! I am in awe of her self-discipline and devotion to denial.
Our girl will probably live for ever, or at least until she is 105 years old, like Dr Shigeaki Hinohara, the Japanese physician and longevity expert.
He also lived on vegetables and fish — although he occasionally went mad and had a few grains of rice, too.
David Beckham has revealed that wife Victoria has eaten the same meal for 25 years — grilled fish and steamed veg
His other tips for a long life? Drink a glass of orange juice with a tablespoon of olive oil in it every day. Always take the stairs and don’t retire at 65 — keep working if you can.
No chance of Posh giving up her career as a designer, unfortunately. Her hideous new stirrup leggings are £490 a pair and do you know, I just might die laughing.
Oh God. She’s so brave. Kate Winslet has been filmed wiping off her make-up in a new cosmetics advert.
Why? To show us all she is Ordinary Like Us and also Because She’s Worth It. From porridge-faced Mare of Easttown to the face of L’Oreal, there is no stopping her — but I wish she wouldn’t talk to women as if we were all as stupid as soap and didn’t grasp that Beauty Is Only Skin Deep.
Last year’s L’Oreal hair advert was bad enough, with her marching about, tossing her curls as if she were President of the United States of Shampoo. This is worse.
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